WASHINGTON — Gov. Pat Quinn announced Monday $11.6 million as part of a state relief package for communities affected by the Nov. 17 tornadoes, including $7.7 million for Washington and funds for Pekin and East Peoria.

The announcement was made in conjunction with the signing of two bills created to help communities across the state recover from natural disasters during a news conference in the parking lot of Tractor Supply Co., where the governor’s first news conference was held the day after the devastating storms.

Monday’s allocation included $115,666 for Pekin and $268,393 for East Peoria from the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois Emergency Management Agency to help pay for costs such as repairs to infrastructure, debris removal, emergency protective measures and overtime payments.

Additional funds for Washington include $6,769 for Washington Community High School, $11,568 for the township road district and $20,877 for the park district.

The money is part of a $45 million relief package the governor’s office created after the state’s appeal for municipal assistance that estimated rebuilding costs at $21.4 million was denied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“He committed on the 18th, the morning after (the tornadoes), when he first drove through what we then called the zone, he made a commitment then and stood behind it, actually appealed the FEMA decision. He understands it. He gets it,” Washington Mayor Gary Manier said of Quinn. “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

As part of the package, Washington received $6.5 million from IDOT last month for road repairs and cleanup due to storm damage and the damage caused by heavy debris removal equipment.

The remainder of the $45 million pooled by several state agencies will be allocated by IEMA in an ongoing application-approval process.

Manier said Washington has no plans to apply for any of the $1 billion in federal grants made available through the National Disaster Resilience Competition, which will distribute funds to communities affected by natural disasters that rebuild with innovative and resilient structures in the response to an increase in severe weather events — Illinois alone has experienced 11 disasters in the last five years.

“We don’t have to worry about it right now because we’ve got a great governor that promised to help us, so we’re trying to move forward with our, as you can see, the rebuilding process for our great city,” Manier said.

The laws signed by Quinn in Washington were House Bill 4590, which creates the Illinois Gives Initiative that allows current and retired state employees to donate a portion of their paycheck or annuity to Illinois chapters of the American Red Cross affected by disasters, and Senate Bill 2922, which limits the commission fee of an insurance adjuster to 10 percent.

Page 2 of 2 - The governor also signed into law Senate Bill 3259, which protects small businesses rebuilding after a disaster by limiting the amount their property taxes will increase annually.

“These three pieces of legislation are a result of looking at the status quo and the events that took place and what we can do to make Illinois a better state,” said state Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington. “We’re not giving up on just this. We’re not saying we’re done with just this. We want to make sure Illinois is the most prepared state in the nation.”

Laura Nightengale can be reached at 686-3181 or lnightengale@pjstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauranight.